Joseph Lee 01/14/20

Both leaders, Ferdinand Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte, have the same economic system

which is “Command Economic System.” However, in the past, it seems like the economy was

worse than the present. The Philippines faced an economic crisis and even Martial Law which

shocked the whole globe during that time. Here’s why I think the economic system and the

economy was better during Rodrigo Duterte’s time.

First of all, Ferdinand Marcos elevated the influence of a select group of industrialist

and entrepreneurs with strategic appointments and a systematic use of “Behest loans” which

means a loan granted to individuals or corporations that the government favored. Because of

this, he attracted a new breed of economic managers. While Duterte did not do this, he was

going to build infrastructures to help with poverty, congestion, and economic growth.

Secondly, one major economic achievement was earned during the first term of

Marcos administration. It arose by placing tax reforms in its legislative agenda. He did this

because before Marcos was president, during the Macapagal administration, had gone with no

new tax initiatives until the midway of Carlos P. Garcia. This is what would be known as the

“Omnibus Tax Law of 1969.” The success came almost at the end of Marcos’ first

administration and yet the revenues was still insufficient for Marcos’ government plans. During

the 1970 however, the Philippines faced its first major crisis. It is because of the ramp-up on

loan funded government spending leading up to Ferdinand Marcos’ reelection campaign. This

is the same with Duterte’s period. Although Duterte built infrastructures and/or expanded some

existing ones, they both had a massive outcome. For example, for Duterte, he had a massive

infrastructure spending and a robust growth while for Marcos, he had a financial crisis.

Lastly are products. For Marcos, he got new machines and a new breed of industrialists

and entrepreneurs to make better or new products for the country. While Duterte, some of the
country’s productions and export rates dropped drastically. In December 2017, the government

revealed the data and it showed that the Philippines output of nickel ore fell by 16 percent after

the country suspended some mines. On March 2017, the Financial Times reported that the

export of the Philippines has continued to drop drastically with in the span of 5 months. Yet

still the country has improved its ranking by 29 places in the Ease of Doing Business rankings.

My claim is that although Ferdinand Marcos started to help with the economic growth

in the Philippines, it still was kind of lacking a few parts. While for Duterte he managed to help

with economic growth, poverty, and congestion with in Metro Manila with just one plan. This

is why I think the economic system is better now than Marcos’.